Seaweed & Gravel's CB750
By Anthony van Someren - 07 Nov 13
Brady Young has moved. He used to work under the UGLY Motorbikes brand, where he ironically built some great-looking machines including one of our favourites, a flat blue & white XS750. But now Brady has moved over to Seaweed & Gravel, where we assume it's all about beaches, sunshine and the smell of the sea. Well not only that, it's also clearly about building more breathtaking bikes like this stunning CB750. In fact, stunning doesn't really do it justice, this bike is damn near perfect in our eyes.
The project started more than a year ago when Brady stopped by a new shop in town to check out a BSA 441 Victor in the front window. The conversation with the shop's owner went off in a completely different direction, however; when he pointed to a rundown 72’ Honda CB750, and suggested it could be made into something a bit special with the talents of someone like Brady. The build was on.
Well, it was briefly on. After making a good start, customer builds and the small matter of setting up a new shop put the project on hold for a while. Work is just so damn inconvenient sometimes. Eventually a decent enough gap between builds emerged for Brady to finish the bike that had sat patiently waiting for his attention in the corner of the workshop.
So what went into this build? Well, the stock front end was ditched for a modern Suzuki GSXR750 set up with a single matching rotor and caliper. The rear shocks were swapped for slightly longer progressive shocks to give a more aggressive, front end loaded stance, and better performance. The engine was rebuilt and had a stage 1 port and polish done on the heads. It now breathes through individual UNI foam filters and exits through a 4-1 exhaust with a custom 8in reverse cone muffler.
The custom oil tank is under the seat cowl and follows along the span of the seat, producing that perfect negative space in the triangle of the frame that we all crave. Brady says that when it came to the look and feel of the bike, he wanted to step more towards an 'aggressive edge whilst still maintaining an even flow'. The paint scheme was based on an original manufacture design (to tie back in a classic feel) with a metallic blue base black secondary and white pin striping, all finished with a matte clear. The number plate on the front features an offset headlight and polished aluminium numbers, and really helps pull this bike out from the crowd.
Brady says he is well-pleased with the end product, and rightly so. He also says she is a joy to ride ,with the exhaust note screaming for attention as you go. He describes the handling performance as almost 'anxious' which we guess you can read as either a positive or a negative!
This build was meant to be a 'stay in the shop bike', but unsurprisingly soon after completion it got the attention of someone, and the bike now resides with its very lucky owner in New York. But fear not, to quote Brady again, this bike is right up the top of his, "I need to build another one” list. Thank goodness for that. Our world needs as many bikes like this one as it can get. Thanks for sharing Brady. See more from Seaweed & Gravel on The Bike Shed, or on their own Webpages.